Islamic Opposition in Libya

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Periodical article

Title:	Islamic Opposition in Libya
Author:	Joffe, George
Year:	1988
Periodical:	Third World Quarterly (ISSN 0143-6597)
Volume:	10
Issue:	2
Period:	April
Pages:	615-631
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Libya
Subjects:	Islam political conflicts Religion and Witchcraft Politics and Government
Abstract:	The Qaddafi regime has successfully defused the danger of a specifically Islamic opposition in Libya, whether indigenous or exogenous, through its internal repression and through its attempts to incorporate Islam as a legitimizing feature of its own practice. Furthermore, its claim to radical populism and egalitarianism in the past has meant that it has been easy to portray the Islamic opposition as inherently conservative and reactionary. At the same time, however, the heterodox nature of Libya's 1978 Islamic Revolution inevitably creates the basis for Islamic opposition. Such opposition has come from, amongst others, the Sanusi, the urban fuqaha (legal experts) and ulema (traditional religious leaders), the anquds (small, autonomous fundamentalist organizations), and various groups in exile, such as the Inqat (National Salvation Front for Libya), the Ikhwan (Muslim Brotherhood), and the Hizb al-tahrir al-Islami (Islamic Liberation Party). So far, however, no external group or internal development has demonstrated the potential to be able to locate the weak spot in Libya's official Islamic armour. Notes, ref.